Many Low German and German words found their way to Norwegian through the Bergen dialect, which makes up almost 35% of the basic Norwegian vocabulary, the long history of multi-lingual coexistence in Bergen has made the dialect more susceptible to simplifications, in order to ease communication, and the influence of Danish and Low German are apparent in the modern Bergen dialect's phonetics.[5]

Bergen's strong foreign influence, such as Hanseatic League merchants in the period from about 1350 to 1750, had a profound effect on the Bergen dialect, the Hanseatic merchants spoke varieties of Low German, and perhaps a pidgin in dealings with the locals. Bergen was the only major Norwegian city during the Dano-Norwegian union from 1536 to 1814, and the Bergen dialect absorbed more of language trends from abroad, such as from Danish, than other Norwegian dialects, the written standard of the time, was based on a Copenhagen variety of the Danish language, and it continued to affect Bergensk well into the 20th century. A Dano-Norwegian koiné, resembling the non-standard Riksmål, is still spoken, although in recent decades has become much more similar to Bokmål.[6]

Bergensk is one of two dialects in Norway with only two grammatical genders, the other being the dialect spoken in Lyngen[citation needed]. All others have three (excepting sociolects in other Norwegian urban areas), the feminine gender disappeared in the 16th century. One theory is that this was partly fueled by an influence from Danish[citation needed], which became the written language and already had abolished the distinction between masculine and feminine forms[citation needed], and as a simplification to ease communication between Norwegians and Germans or between people from Bergen and other parts of Norway.[7]

The Old Norse -n ending was retained in the Bergen (Old Norse hon > hon), but lost elsewhere (hon > ho). The -nn ending was simplified to -n everywhere, since the feminine definite articles were -in and -an in Old Norse, while the masculine ending was -inn, another theory is that the retention of -n, combined with an earlier reduction of unstressed vowels, caused the masculine and feminine genders to merge. In other dialects -in and -an lost the final -n, underwent nasalization and developed into -a in a majority of the modern Norwegian dialects (other variants include -e, -i and -o) whereas -inn developed into -en.[8]

In Norwegian, common nouns may be indefinite or definite, while proper nouns are always indefinite; in the Bergen dialect, however, proper nouns of persons' given names are often definite, giving a less formal tone. For example, Kåre Willoch may be called Kåren (or Kåre'n, no written convention exists) or Willochen in Bergensk, whereas this would be considered incorrect elsewhere in Norway, excepting only some rural dialects in the proximity of Bergen. The reason for this emerging in Bergen is thought to be that titles, which are common nouns, were more or less used the same way as names, since in Bergen, formerly Norway's megapolis, there were many people with the same given names, but a wide range of titles, for example, "Alexander Skomaker" (in English "Alexander Shoemaker"). As titles gradually were perceived as names, and could be in the definite form (as they were common nouns), after some time, by assimilation to the titles as names, surnames and eventually given names were also used in the definite form.

The /r/ phoneme is realized uvularly, either as a trill [ʀ] or a fricative [ʁ]. The latter is the normal French pronunciation, it probably spread to Bergen (and Kristiansand) some time in the 18th century, overtaking the alveolar trill [r] in the time span of about 2-3 generations. Until recent decades' developments in neighboring rural dialects, this was an easy way of distinguishing them from the Bergen dialect. Nowadays, the uvular /r/ is a feature of a much larger area of the southwestern Norway than Bergen. Broader speakers may realize the coda/r/ as a central vowel [ɐ], but that is stigmatized.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the literacy rate improved, which gave a strong influence from Riksmål, and later Bokmål. Nynorsk, Norway's other written language, was considered rural and thus lacking prestige, and has not had a strong influence on the dialect. Subsequently, large parts of the German-inspired vocabulary unique for Bergen disappeared. Plural endings are used less frequently, for example huser (houses) has become hus, which is correct Bokmål. Also, pronunciations have shifted slightly towards standard East Norwegian (Standard Østnorsk), probably as a result of the shift of power towards Oslo, for example, "pære" (pear), which was formerly pronounced as péræ, is now pronounced pæræ.

Like almost all Norwegian dialects, Bergensk cannot be said to be either Bokmål or Nynorsk. While the vocabulary shows traits of both Bokmål and Nynorsk, it has characteristics that are not covered by any of these written standards. Also, Bokmål is often associated with Eastern Norwegian Standard Østnorsk pronunciation - although no official affiliation exists, this gives the claim that oral Bergensk "is" partly Bokmål ambiguities. Although Nynorsk (Neo-Norwegian) has its stronghold in western Norway and the areas surrounding Bergen, most of the inhabitants of Bergen itself write Bokmål.

When English verbs are used as substitute for Norwegian verbs, in the past tense they are given an -et ending, like walket and drivet, this is different from the other Norwegian dialects, most of which use an -a ending.[11]

1.
Norwegian language
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Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as extinct languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them, as established by law and governmental policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål and Nynorsk. The official Norwegian Language Council is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk in English. Two other written forms without official status also exist, one and it is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy, which translates the name as Standard Norwegian. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, no standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect. Outside Eastern Norway, this variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism, rural versus urban discourse, historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål, Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A2005 poll indicates that 86. 3% use primarily Bokmål as their written language,5. 5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7. 5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, examples are Setesdal, the western part of Telemark county and several municipalities in Hallingdal, Valdres, and Gudbrandsdalen. It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in rural parts of Trøndelag. Today, not only is Nynorsk the official language of four of the 19 Norwegian counties, NRK, the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all publications, and Nynorsk in 8%

2.
Bergen
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Bergen, historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Hordaland on the west coast of Norway. At the end of the first quarter of 2016, the population was 278,121. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway, the municipality covers 465 square kilometres and is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, the city fjord, many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the centre of Hordaland and consists of eight boroughs—Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad. Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s, according to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by king Olav Kyrre, its name was Bjørgvin, the green meadow among the mountains. It served as Norways capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a city of the Hanseatic League. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to trade between Northern Norway and abroad and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was surpassed by the capital. What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site, the city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute beginning in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, from 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county, the city is an international centre for aquaculture, shipping, offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance. Bergen Port is Norways busiest in both freight and passengers with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, almost half of the passengers are German or British. The citys main team is SK Brann and the citys unique tradition is the buekorps. Natives speak the distinct Bergensk dialect, the city features Bergen Airport, Flesland, Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities, Bergen is well known for having a mild winter climate, though with a lot of precipitation. In December - March, the difference between Bergen and Oslo can be up to 30 degrees Celsius, despite the fact that both cities are at approximately 60 degrees North. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, the city of Bergen was traditionally thought to have been founded by king Olav Kyrre, son of Harald Hardråde in 1070 AD, four years after the Viking Age ended with the Battle of Hastings. Modern research has, however, discovered that a settlement was established already during the 1020s or 1030s

3.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him

4.
Hordaland
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Hordaland is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population, the county government is the Hordaland County Municipality which is located in Bergen. Before 1972, the city of Bergen was its own separate county apart from Hordaland, Hordaland is the old name of the region which was revived in 1919. The first element is the genitive case of hǫrðar, the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is land which means land or region in the Norwegian language, until 1919 the name of the county was Søndre Bergenhus amt which meant southern Bergenhus amt. The flag of Hordaland shows two golden axes and a crown in red, the flag is a banner of the coat of arms derived from the old seal of the guild of St. Olav from Onarheim in Tysnes municipality. This seal was used by the delegates of Sunnhordland in 1344 on the document to install king Haakon V of Norway and it was thus the oldest symbol used for the region and adapted as the arms and flag in 1961. The symbols refer to the saint of the guild, Saint Olav, King of Norway. The coat-of-arms were officially granted on 1 December 1961 and they were designed by Magnus Hardeland, but the general design had been originally used in the Sunnhordland region during the 14th century. In the early 20th century, leaders of the county using the old arms as a symbol for the county once again. The arms are on a red background and consist of two golden axes that are crossed with a crown above them. Hordaland county has been around for more than one thousand years, since the 7th century, the area was made up of many petty kingdoms under the Gulating and was known as Hordafylke since around the year 900. In the early 16th century, Norway was divided into four len, the Bergenhus len was headquartered in Bergen and encompassed much of western and northern Norway. In 1662, the lens were replaced by amts, Bergenhus amt originally consisted of the present-day areas of Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, and Sunnmøre and the far northern Nordlandene amt was subordinate to Bergenhus. In the 1680s, Nordlandene and Sunnmøre were split from Bergenhus, in 1763, the amt was divided into northern and southern parts, Nordre Bergenhus amt and Søndre Bergenhus amt. When the amt was split, the present day municipality of Gulen was split with the southern part ending up in Søndre Bergenhus amt, in 1773, the border was re-drawn so that all of Gulen was located in the northern part. Søndre Bergenhus amt was renamed Hordaland fylke in 1919, the city of Bergen was classified as a city-county from 1831–1972. During that time in 1915, the municipality of Årstad was annexed into Bergen, in 1972, the neighboring municipalities of Arna, Fana, Laksevåg and Åsane were annexed into the city of Bergen

5.
Rogaland
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Rogaland is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder, and Vest-Agder counties. Rogaland is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, in 2016, Rogaland had an unemployment rate of 4. 9%, one of the highest in Norway. In 2015, Rogaland had a fertility rate of 1.78 children per woman, the Diocese of Stavanger for the Church of Norway includes all of Rogaland county. Rogaland is the Old Norse name of the region which was revived in modern times, during Denmarks rule of Norway until the year 1919, the county was named Stavanger amt, after the large city of Stavanger. The first element is the genitive case of rygir which is probably referring to the name of an old Germanic tribe. The last element is land which means land or region, in Old Norse times, the region was called Rygjafylki. The coat-of-arms is from modern times, they were granted on 11 January 1974, the arms are blue with a white or silver pointed cross in the centre. The cross is based on the old cross in Sola. It was erected in memory of Erling Skjalgsson after his death in 1028 and this type of cross was very common in medieval Norway. Rogaland is mainly a coastal region with fjords, beaches, and islands, the vast Boknafjorden is the largest bay, with many fjords branching off from it. Together, this conurbation is ranked above the city Trondheim in population rankings in Norway, there are many cities/towns in Rogaland other than Stavanger and Sandnes. They include Haugesund, Egersund, Sauda, Bryne, Kopervik, Åkrehamn, Karmøy has large deposits of copper. Sokndal has large deposits of ilmenite, Rogaland is the most important region for oil and gas exploration in Norway, and the Jæren district in Rogaland is one of the countrys most important agricultural districts. There are remains in Rogaland from the earliest times, such as the excavations in a cave at Viste in Randaberg and these include the find of a skeleton of a boy from the Stone Age. Various archeological finds stem from the times, the Bronze Age. Many crosses in Irish style have been found, Rogaland was called Rygjafylke in the Viking Age. Before Harald Fairhair and the Battle of Hafrsfjord, it was a petty kingdom, the Rugians were a tribe possibly connected with Rogaland. The ONS is an international conference and exhibition with focus on oil and gas

6.
Trondheim
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Trondheim, historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It has a population of 187,353, and is the third most populous municipality in Norway and it is the third largest city in the country, with a population of 169,972 inhabitants within the city borders. The city functions as the centre of Sør-Trøndelag county. Trondheim lies on the shore of Trondheim Fjord at the mouth of the river Nidelva. The settlement was founded in 997 as a trading post, from 1152 to 1537, the city was the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros, since then, it has remained the seat of the Lutheran Diocese of Nidaros and the Nidaros Cathedral. The current municipality dates from 1964, when Trondheim merged with Byneset, Leinstrand, Strinda, for the ecclesiastical history, see Archiepiscopate of Nidaros Trondheim was named Kaupangen by Viking King Olav Tryggvason in 997. Shortly thereafter it came to be called Nidaros, in the beginning it was frequently used as a military retainer of King Olav I. It was frequently used as the seat of the king, and was the capital of Norway until 1217, people have been living in the region for thousands of years as evidenced by the rock carvings in central Norway, the Nøstvet and Lihult cultures and the Corded Ware culture. In ancient times, the Kings of Norway were hailed at Øretinget in Trondheim, Harald Fairhair was hailed as the king here, as was his son, Haakon I, called the Good. The battle of Kalvskinnet took place in Trondheim in 1179, King Sverre Sigurdsson, some scholars believe that the famous Lewis chessmen, 12th-century chess pieces carved from walrus ivory found in the Hebrides and now at the British Museum, may have been made in Trondheim. Trondheim was the seat of the Archdiocese of Nidaros for Norway from 1152, due to the introduction of Lutheran Protestantism in 1537, the last Archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson, had to flee from the city to the Netherlands, where he died in present-day Lier, Belgium. The city has experienced major fires. Since much of the city was made of wooden buildings, many of the fires caused severe damage. Great fires ravaged the city in 1598,1651,1681,1708, twice in 1717,1742,1788,1841 and 1842, however, the 1651 fire destroyed 90% of all buildings within the city limits. The fire in 1681 led to an almost total reconstruction of the city, overseen by General Johan Caspar von Cicignon, broad avenues like Munkegaten were created, with no regard for property rights, in order to stop the next fire. At the time, the city had a population of roughly 8000 inhabitants, after the Treaty of Roskilde on 26 February 1658, Trondheim and the rest of Trøndelag, became Swedish territory for a brief period, but the area was reconquered 10 months later. The conflict was settled by the Treaty of Copenhagen on 27 May 1660. During World War II, Trondheim was occupied by Nazi Germany from 9 April 1940, the home of the most notorious Norwegian Gestapo agent, Henry Rinnan, was in Trondheim

7.
Proto-Germanic
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Proto-Germanic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. The end of the Common Germanic period is reached with the beginning of the Migration Period in the fourth century, the Proto-Germanic language is not directly attested by any coherent surviving texts, it has been reconstructed using the comparative method. Fragmentary direct attestation exists of Common Germanic in early runic inscriptions, the Proto-Germanic language developed in southern Scandinavia, the Urheimat of the Germanic tribes. Proto-Germanic developed out of pre-Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, Proto-Germanic itself was likely spoken after c. Early Germanic expansion in the Pre-Roman Iron Age placed Proto-Germanic speakers in contact with the Continental Celtic La Tène horizon, a number of Celtic loanwords in Proto-Germanic have been identified. By the 1st century AD, Germanic expansion reaches the Danube and the Upper Rhine in the south, at about the same time, extending east of the Vistula, Germanic speakers come into contact with early Slavic cultures, as reflected in early Germanic loans in Proto-Slavic. By the 3rd century, LPGmc speakers had expanded over significant distance, the period marks the breakup of Late Proto-Germanic and the beginning of the Germanic migrations. The earliest coherent text in Proto-Norse become available c.400 in runic inscriptions, the delineation of Late Common Germanic from Proto-Norse about then is largely a matter of convention. Early West Germanic becomes available in the 5th century with the Frankish Bergakker inscription, between the two points, many sound changes occurred. Phylogeny as applied to historical linguistics involves the descent of languages. The Germanic languages form a tree with Proto-Germanic at its root that is a branch of the Indo-European tree, borrowing of lexical items from contact languages makes the relative position of the Germanic branch within Indo-European less clear than the positions of the other branches of Indo-European. In the course of the development of linguistics, various solutions have been proposed, none certain. In the evolutionary history of a family, philologists consider a genetic tree model appropriate only if communities do not remain in effective contact as their languages diverge. The internal diversification of West Germanic developed in an especially non-treelike manner, Proto-Germanic is generally agreed to have begun about 500 BC. Its hypothetical ancestor between the end of Proto-Indo-European and 500 BC is termed Pre-Proto-Germanic, whether it is to be included under a wider meaning of Proto-Germanic is a matter of usage. The fixation of the led to sound changes in unstressed syllables. For Lehmann, the boundary was the dropping of final -a or -e in unstressed syllables, for example, post-PIE *wóyd-e > Gothic wait. Antonsen agreed with Lehmann about the boundary but later found runic evidence that the -a was not dropped, ékwakraz … wraita, I, Wakraz

8.
Germanic languages
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It is the third most spoken Indo-European subdivision, behind Italic and Indo-Iranian, and ahead of Balto-Slavic languages. Limburgish varieties have roughly 1.3 million speakers along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, the main North Germanic languages are Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese, which have a combined total of about 20 million speakers. The East Germanic branch included Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, the last to die off was Crimean Gothic, spoken in the late 18th century in some isolated areas of Crimea. The total number of Germanic languages throughout history is unknown, as some of them—especially East Germanic languages—disappeared during or after the Migration Period. Proto-Germanic, along all of its descendants, is characterized by a number of unique linguistic features. Early varieties of Germanic enter history with the Germanic tribes moving south from Scandinavia in the 2nd century BC, to settle in the area of todays northern Germany, furthermore, it is the de facto language of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It is also a language in Nicaragua and Malaysia. German is a language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland and has regional status in Italy, Poland, Namibia. German also continues to be spoken as a minority language by immigrant communities in North America, South America, Central America, Mexico, a German dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch, is still present amongst Anabaptist populations in Pennsylvania in the United States. Dutch is a language of Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao. The Netherlands also colonised Indonesia, but Dutch was scrapped as a language after Indonesian independence. Dutch was until 1925 an official language in South Africa, but evolved in and was replaced by Afrikaans, Afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa and is a lingua franca of Namibia. It is used in other Southern African nations as well, low German is a collection of sometimes very diverse dialects spoken in the northeast of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Scots is spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, frisian is spoken among half a million people who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Luxembourgish is mainly spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, though it extends into small parts of Belgium, France. Limburgish varieties are spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, Swedish is also one of the two official languages in Finland, along with Finnish, and the only official language in the Åland Islands. Danish is also spoken natively by the Danish minority in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Norwegian is the official language of Norway. Icelandic is the language of Iceland, and is spoken by a significant minority in the Faroe Islands

9.
Proto-Norse
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Proto-Norse, was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic over the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and it evolved into the dialects of the Old Norse language, at the beginning of the Viking Age about AD800, which later themselves evolved into modern North Germanic languages. Proto-Norse phonology probably did not differ substantially from that of Proto-Germanic, although the phonetic realisation of several phonemes had probably changed over time, the overall system of phonemes and their distribution remained largely unchanged. /n/ assimilated to a velar consonant. It was before a velar, and probably before a labial-velar consonant. Unlike its Proto-Germanic ancestor /x/, the phoneme /h/ was probably no longer a fricative and it eventually disappeared except word-initially. and were allophones of /b/, /d/ and /ɡ/, and occurred in most word-medial positions. Plosives appeared when the consonants were lengthened, and also after a nasal consonant, word-finally, and were devoiced and merged with /p/, /t/, /k/. The exact realisation of the phoneme /z/, traditionally written as ʀ in transcriptions of runic Norse, is unclear, while it was a simple alveolar sibilant in Proto-Germanic, it eventually underwent rhotacization and merged with /r/ towards the end of the runic period. It may have been pronounced as or, tending towards a trill in the later period, the sound was still written with its own letter in runic Old East Norse around the end of the millennium. The system of vowels differed somewhat more from that of Proto-Germanic than the consonants, earlier /ɛː/ had been lowered to /ɑː/, and unstressed /ai/ and /au/ had developed into /eː/ and /ɔː/. Shortening of word-final vowels had eliminated the Proto-Germanic overlong vowels, /o/ had developed from /u/ through a-mutation. It also occurred word-finally as a result of the shortening of Proto-Germanic /ɔː/, the long nasal vowels /ɑ̃ː/, /ĩː/ and /ũː/ occurred only before /h/. Their presence was noted in the 12th century First Grammatical Treatise, all other nasal vowels occurred only word-finally, although it is unclear whether they had retained their nasality in Proto-Norse or had already merged with the oral vowels. The vowels /o/ and /ɔ̃/ were contrastive, however, as the former eventually developed into /u/ while the latter was lowered to /ɑ/, towards the end of the Proto-Norse period, stressed /e/ underwent breaking, becoming a rising diphthong /ja/. Also towards the end of the Proto-Norse period, u-mutation began to take effect, at least the following diphthongs were present, /æi/, /ɑu/, /eu/, /iu/. /ɑu/ was later rounded to /ɒu/ due to u-mutation, /eu/ eventually underwent breaking to become the triphthong /jɒu/. This was preserved in Old Gutnish, but simplified to a long rising /joː/ or /juː/ in other areas, as /iu/ occurred exclusively in environments with i-mutation, its realisation was probably fronted. This then developed further into, which then became /yː/, Old Norse had a stress accent which fell on the first syllable

10.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders

11.
Hanseatic League
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The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s and it stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. Hanse, later spelled as Hansa, was the Middle Low German word for a convoy, the League was created to protect the guilds economic interests and diplomatic privileges in their affiliated cities and countries, as well as along the trade routes the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection. The hegemony of Lübeck peaked during the 15th century, Lübeck became a base for merchants from Saxony and Westphalia trading eastward and northward. This area was a source of timber, wax, amber, resins, the towns raised their own armies, with each guild required to provide levies when needed. The Hanseatic cities came to the aid of one another, and commercial ships often had to be used to carry soldiers, Visby functioned as the leading centre in the Baltic before the Hansa. Sailing east, Visby merchants established a trading post at Novgorod called Gutagard in 1080, Merchants from northern Germany also stayed in the early period of the Gotlander settlement. Later they established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as Peterhof, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges that made their position more secure. Hansa societies worked to remove restrictions to trade for their members, before the official foundation of the League in 1356, the word Hanse did not occur in the Baltic language. The earliest remaining documentary mention, although without a name, of a specific German commercial federation is from London 1157. That year, the merchants of the Hansa in Cologne convinced Henry II, King of England, to them from all tolls in London. The allied cities gained control over most of the trade, especially the Scania Market. In 1266, Henry III of England granted the Lübeck and Hamburg Hansa a charter for operations in England, much of the drive for this co-operation came from the fragmented nature of existing territorial government, which failed to provide security for trade. Over the next 50 years the Hansa itself emerged with formal agreements for confederation and co-operation covering the west and east trade routes. The principal city and linchpin remained Lübeck, with the first general Diet of the Hansa held there in 1356, other such alliances formed throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Yet the League never became a closely managed formal organisation, over the period, a network of alliances grew to include a flexible roster of 70 to 170 cities. The league succeeded in establishing additional Kontors in Bruges, Bergen and these trading posts became significant enclaves

12.
Low German
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Low German or Low Saxon is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form, as an Ingvaeonic language, Low German is quite distinct from the Irminonic languages like Standard German. It is closely related to Anglo-Frisian group of languages and more distantly to Dutch and this difference resulted from the High German consonant shift, with the Uerdingen and Benrath lines being two notable linguistic borders. Dialects of Low German are widely spoken in the area of the Netherlands and are written there with an orthography based on Standard Dutch orthography. Small portions of northern Hesse and northern Thuringia are traditionally Low Saxon-speaking too, historically, Low German was also spoken in formerly German parts of Poland as well as in East Prussia and the Baltic States of Estonia and Latvia. Under the name Low Saxon, there are speakers in the Dutch north-eastern provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Stellingwerf, Overijssel, German speakers in this area fled the Red Army or were forcibly expelled after the border changes at the end of World War II. Today, there are still speakers outside Germany and the Netherlands to be found in the areas of present-day Poland. In some of these countries, the language is part of the Mennonite religion, there are Mennonite communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Minnesota which use Low German in their religious services and communities. The type of Low German spoken in communities and in the Midwest region of the United States has diverged since emigration. The survival of the language is tenuous in many places and has died out in places where assimilation has occurred. Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Belize, and Chihuahua, Mexico have made Low German a co-official language of the community, in Germany, native speakers of Low German call it Platt, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch. In the Netherlands, native speakers refer to their language as dialect, plat, nedersaksies, or the name of their village, officially, Low German is called Niederdeutsch by the German authorities and Nedersaksisch by the Dutch authorities. Plattdeutsch/Niederdeutsch and Platduits/Nedersaksisch are seen in texts from the German. In Danish it is called Plattysk, Nedertysk or, rarely, Mennonite Low German is called Plautdietsch. Etymologically Platt meant clear in the sense of a language the people could understand. In Dutch, the word Plat can also mean improper, or rude, the ISO 639-2 language code for Low German has been nds since May 2000. The question of whether Low German should be considered a separate language, linguistics offers no simple, generally accepted criterion to decide this question. Scholarly arguments have been put forward in favour of classifying Low German as a German dialect, as said, these arguments are not linguistic but rather socio-political and build mainly around the fact that Low German has no official standard form or use in sophisticated media

13.
Danish language
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There are also minor Danish-speaking communities in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their home language. Along with the other North Germanic languages, Danish is a descendant of Old Norse, until the 16th century, Danish was a continuum of dialects spoken from Schleswig to Scania with no standard variety or spelling conventions. With the Protestant Reformation and the introduction of printing, a language was developed which was based on the educated Copenhagen dialect. It spread through use in the system and administration though German. Today, traditional Danish dialects have all but disappeared, though there are variants of the standard language. The main differences in language are between generations, with youth language being particularly innovative, Danish has a very large vowel inventory comprising 27 phonemically distinctive vowels, and its prosody is characterized by the distinctive phenomenon stød, a kind of laryngeal phonation type. The grammar is moderately inflective with strong and weak conjugations and inflections, nouns and demonstrative pronouns distinguish common and neutral gender. As in English, Danish only has remnants of a case system, particularly in the pronouns. Its syntax is V2, with the verb always occupying the second slot in the sentence. Danish is a Germanic language of the North Germanic branch, other names for this group are the Nordic or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the Old Norse language, Scandinavian languages are often considered a dialect continuum, where there are no sharp dividing lines between the different vernacular languages. Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas, West Danish, Insular Danish, and East Danish. Danish is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Swedish, both Swedes and Danes also understand Norwegian better than they understand each others languages. By the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language was called the Danish tongue, or Norse language. Norse was written in the alphabet, first with the elder futhark. From the 7th century the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway

14.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen

15.
Lyngen
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Lyngen is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lyngseidet, other villages include Furuflaten, Lattervika, Nord-Lenangen, and Svensby. The municipality is named after the Lyngen fjord, the name of the fjord is derived from the word logn which means quiet, still, or calm. The coat-of-arms is from modern times, the arms show a black horse of the local breed on a silver background. The silver color symbolizes the sea and fishing industry and the horse represents the local agriculture, see also, The coat-of-arms of Eid, Gloppen, Levanger, Nord-Fron, Skedsmo and Ski. The Lyngen Church was built at Karnes in 1731, and was moved to its present location at Lyngseidet in 1740, in 1775, the church was rebuilt in its current cross shape, with the material from the old church used for a boathouse in Oldervik. Finally in 1840–1845, the church was renovated with a new tower, galleries, windows, during the Cold War the Norwegian Army planned to abandon Finnmark and halt the Soviets along the European route E06 highway at the choke point between the Lyngen fjord and the mountains. Lyngen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, on 1 January 1867, the Sørfjorden part of Karlsøy municipality was transferred to Lyngen. Then on 1 January 1875, a part of Lyngen was transferred to Balsfjord. On 1 January 1902, the Sørfjorden area was separated from Lyngen to form a new municipality and these changes left Lyngen with 2,225 residents. On 1 January 1964, the part of the Lyngen peninsula in Karlsøy municipality. Then on 1 January 1992, the Nordnes area of Lyngen on the shore of the Lyngenfjorden was transferred to the neighboring municipalities of Kåfjord and Storfjord. The municipality is situated on the Lyngen peninsula, with the Lyngen fjord to the east, the municipal centre is Lyngseidet, a pretty settlement on an isthmus that almost cuts the peninsula in the middle. Other villages include Furuflaten, which has various industries, and Svensby, Nord-Lenangen faces the open sea, and is largely a fishing village. The municipality has its own shipping company, operating the car ferries west to Breivikeidet in Tromsø, there is also a road going south along the shore of the fjord connecting to the main E6 road, giving ferry-free access to the main road network. The Lyngen peninsula is a scenic and mountainous area, known as the Lyngen Alps. The highest peak is Jiehkkevárri, reaching 1,833 metres, another prominent mountain is Store Lenangstind. The Strupbreen lies in this range, northwest of Lyngseidet

16.
Uvular trill
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The uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʀ⟩ and its place of articulation is uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue at the uvula. Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation and it is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only. It is a consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue. The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, there are two main theories regarding the origination of the uvular trill in European languages. In most cases, varieties have shifted this to a uvular fricative or a voiced uvular approximant. The other main theory posits that the uvular R originated within Germanic languages through a process where the alveolar R was weakened and then replaced by an imitation of the alveolar R. As counterevidence against the French origin theory, it is stipulated that there are signs that the uvular R existed in certain German dialects long before the 17th century. Features of the voiced uvular raised non-sonorant trill, Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is a non-sibilant fricative. Its place of articulation is uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue at the uvula and its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation. It is a consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only. It is a consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue. The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm and it is phonemic in the Maastrichtian and Weert dialects of Limburgish, but it does not contrast with a plain uvular trill in either. Index of phonetics articles Voiceless uvular trill

17.
Voiced uvular fricative
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The voiced uvular fricative or approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʁ⟩ and this consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R when found in European languages. Because the IPA symbol stands for both the uvular fricative and the approximant, the fricative nature of this sound may be specified by adding the uptack to the letter. The approximant can be specified by adding the downtack, ⟨ʁ̞⟩, though some use a superscript ⟨ʶ⟩. For a voiced fricative, see voiced velar fricative. In many languages it is closer to an approximant, however and its place of articulation is uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue at the uvula. Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation and it is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only. It is a consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue. The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, however, not all of these remain a uvular trill today. Because such uvular rhotics often do not contrast with alveolar ones, for more information, see guttural R. Ladefoged & Maddieson note that There is a complication in the case of uvular fricatives in that the shape of the vocal tract may be such that the uvula vibrates. See voiced uvular raised non-sonorant trill for more information

18.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth

19.
Kristiansand
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Kristiansand, historically Christiansand, is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fifth largest city in Norway and the municipality is the sixth largest in Norway, varodd Bridge is a large bridge and a part of E18, which stretches over Topdalsfjorden. Tourism is important in Kristiansand, and the season is the most popular for tourists. Kristiansand Zoo and Amusement park is the largest zoo in Norway and it receives over 900,000 visitors every year. Markens Street is the pedestrian street in downtown Kristiansand. Bystranda is a city located in Kvadraturen, in addition. Hamresanden Camping is a family camp during the summer season. The city hosts a concert in downtown Kristiansand once every week in the summer. Outside the city is the industry park Sørlandsparken, which has Sørlandssenteret, the Kristiansand area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. In 1996, the skeleton of a woman dating to approximately 6500 BC was discovered in the neighboring municipality of Søgne. This demonstrates very early habitation of the archipelago, grauthelleren, located on Fidjane, is believed to be a Stone Age settlement. The first discovery in Norway of a Sarup enclosure was made in 2010 at Hamresanden, archaeological excavations to the east of Oddernes Church have uncovered rural settlements that existed during the centuries immediately before and after the start of the common era. Together with a discovery in Rogaland, these settlements are unique in the Norwegian context, isolated farms. One of the largest pre-Christian burial grounds in South Norway was formerly located to the south, a royal centre is thought to have existed at Oddernes before 800, and the church was built around 1040. Before the stone church was built, one or perhaps two wooden post churches are believed to have stood on the same spot and this means that the area must have had a large population before it was reduced by the Black Death. In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was already a busy port, in 1635, King Christian IV ordered his feudal seigneur, Palle Rosenkrantz, to move from Nedenes and build a royal palace on the island. Christian IV visited the location in 1630 and 1635, and on 5 July 1641 formally founded the town of Christianssand on the sand on the bank of the Torridalselva. The town was out in Renaissance style on a grid plan

20.
Syllable
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A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the water is composed of two syllables, wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a nucleus with optional initial and final margins. Syllables are often considered the building blocks of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic meter, syllabic writing began several hundred years before the first letters. The earliest recorded syllables are on tablets written around 2800 BC in the Sumerian city of Ur and this shift from pictograms to syllables has been called the most important advance in the history of writing. A word that consists of a syllable is called a monosyllable. Syllable is an Anglo-Norman variation of Old French sillabe, from Latin syllaba, συλλαβή means what is taken together, referring to letters that are taken together to make a single sound. συλλαβή is a noun from the verb συλλαμβάνω syllambánō, a compound of the preposition σύν sýn with. The noun uses the root λαβ-, which appears in the aorist tense, the present tense stem λαμβάν- is formed by adding a nasal infix ⟨μ⟩ ⟨m⟩ before the β b and a suffix -αν -an at the end. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the period ⟨. ⟩ marks syllable breaks, in practice, however, IPA transcription is typically divided into words by spaces, and often these spaces are also understood to be syllable breaks. When a word comes in the middle of a syllable. The liaison tie is used to join lexical words into phonological words. In the typical theory of structure, the general structure of a syllable consists of three segments. e. Nucleus and coda are grouped together as a rime and onset are only distinguished at the second level, the nucleus is usually the vowel in the middle of a syllable. The onset is the sound or sounds occurring before the nucleus, and they are sometimes collectively known as the shell. The term rime covers the nucleus plus coda, in the one-syllable English word cat, the nucleus is a, the onset c, the coda t, and the rime at. This syllable can be abstracted as a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable, abbreviated CVC, languages vary greatly in the restrictions on the sounds making up the onset, nucleus and coda of a syllable, according to what is termed a languages phonotactics

21.
Near-open central unrounded vowel
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The near-open central vowel, or near-low central vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɐ⟩, in some languages it is the only open vowel, in place of the more common open central unrounded vowel. The IPA prefers terms close and open for vowels, and the name of the article follows this, however, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms high and low. The near-open central unrounded vowel is the most common type of the central vowel, and is thus typically transcribed simply as ⟨ɐ⟩. The last two symbols are equivalent to the complex symbols ⟨ä̝⟩ and ⟨ɑ̝̈⟩, respectively. Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel and it is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded. The near-open central rounded vowel is a rare sound, reported to occur as a phoneme only in the Sabiny language. The last two symbols are equivalent to the complex symbols ⟨ɶ̝̈⟩ and ⟨ɒ̝̈⟩, respectively. Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel and it is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed. Turned a Index of phonetics articles

22.
Literacy
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Literacy is traditionally understood as the ability to read, write, and use arithmetic. The concept of literacy is expanding in OECD countries to include skills to access knowledge through technology and ability to assess complex contexts. A person who travels and resides in a country but is unable to read or write in the language of the host country would also be regarded by the locals as being illiterate. The key to literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand words and decode written words. The inability to do so is called illiteracy or analphabetism, Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. Literacy is thought to have first emerged with the development of numeracy, script developed independently at least four times in human history in Mesopotamia, Egypt, lowland Mesoamerica, and China. The earliest forms of written communication originated in Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia about 3500-3000 BCE, writing systems in Mesopotamia first emerged from a recording system in which people used impressed token markings to manage trade and agricultural production. The token system served as a precursor to early cuneiform writing once people began recording information on clay tablets, proto-cuneiform texts exhibit not only numerical signs, but also ideograms depicting objects being counted. Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged from 3300-3100 BCE and depicted royal iconography that emphasized power amongst other elites, the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system was the first notation system to have phonetic values. Writing in lowland Mesoamerica was first put into practice by the Olmec and Zapotec civilizations in 900-400 BCE and these civilizations used glyphic writing and bar-and-dot numerical notation systems for purposes related to royal iconography and calendar systems. The earliest written notations in China date back to the Shang Dynasty in 1200 BCE and these systematic notations were found inscribed on bones and recorded sacrifices made, tributes received, and animals hunted, which were activities of the elite. These oracle-bone inscriptions were the ancestors of modern Chinese script and contained logosyllabic script. According to social anthropologist Jack Goody, there are two interpretations that regard the origin of the alphabet, many classical scholars, such as historian Ignace Gelb, credit the Ancient Greeks for creating the first alphabetic system that used distinctive signs for consonants and vowels. Thus, many argue that the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of northern Canaan invented the consonantal alphabet as early as 1500 BCE. Much of this development is credited to English archeologist Flinders Petrie. Ten years later, English Egyptologist Alan Gardiner reasoned that these contain an alphabet. In 1948, William F. Albright deciphered the text using additional evidence that had been discovered subsequent to Goodys findings and this included a series of inscriptions from Ugarit, discovered in 1929 by French archaeologist Claude F. A. Schaeffer. Some of these inscriptions were mythological texts that consisted of a 32-letter cuneiform consonantal alphabet, another significant discovery was made in 1953 when three arrowheads were uncovered, each containing identical Canaanite inscriptions from twelfth century BCE

23.
Nynorsk
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Nynorsk, literally New Norwegian or New Norse, is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 1885, when the parliament declared them official and equal, until new voting in 1929, the official standard of Nynorsk has since been significantly altered. A minor purist fraction of the Nynorsk populace has stayed firm with the Aasen norm, in local communities, one-fourth of Norwegian municipalities have declared Nynorsk as their official language form, and these municipalities account for about 12% of the Norwegian populace. Of the remaining municipalities, half are neutral and half have adopted Bokmål as their official language form, four of Norways nineteen counties, Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, have Nynorsk as their official language form. These four together comprise the region of Western Norway, the word Nynorsk also has another meaning. Nynorsk was the written Norwegian in use until it died out in the early 1600s during the period of Danish rule, a major source of old written material is Diplomatarium Norvegicum in 22 printed volumes. Written Nynorsk is found in all the types of places. Bokmål has, however, a larger basis in the cities. Most Norwegians do not speak either Nynorsk or Bokmål as written, Nynorsk shares many of the problems that minority languages face. In Norway, each municipality and county can choose to one of the two languages as its official language, or it can remain language neutral. As of 2015, 26% of the 428 municipalities have declared Nynorsk as their language, while 36% have chosen Bokmål and another 36% are neutral. At least 128 of the municipalities are in areas where Bokmål is the prevailing form. As for counties, three have declared Nynorsk, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, two have declared Bokmål, Østfold and Vestfold. The remaining fourteen are officially language neutral, there are few municipalities in language neutral counties that use nynorsk. The main language used in schools is decided by referendum within the local school district. The number of districts and pupils using primarily Nynorsk has decreased from its height in the 1940s. As of 2016,12. 2% of pupils in school are taught Nynorsk as their primary language. The prevailing regions for Nynorsk are the areas of the western counties of Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal

24.
Oslo
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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality, founded in the year 1040, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814, after being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored. Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway, the city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the worlds largest shipping companies, shipbrokers. Oslo is a city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme. Oslo is considered a city and ranked Beta World City in studies carried out by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. It was ranked one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, as of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the citys urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an population of 1.71 million. The population was during the early 2000 increasing at record rates and this growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing faster than the Norwegian population. As of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, the urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, the total population of this agglomeration is 942,084. To the north and east, wide forested hills rise above the city giving the location the shape of a giant amphitheatre. The urban municipality of Oslo and county of Oslo are two parts of the entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated

25.
Pear
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The pear is any of several tree and shrub species of genus Pyrus /ˈpaɪrəs/, in the family Rosaceae. It is also the name of the fruit of the trees. Several species of pear are valued for their fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamental trees. The word “pear” is probably from Germanic pera as a loanword of Vulgar Latin pira, the term pyriform is used to describe something pear-shaped. The pear is native to coastal and mildly temperate regions of the Old World, from western Europe and it is a medium-sized tree, reaching 10–17 metres tall, often with a tall, narrow crown, a few species are shrubby. The leaves are arranged, simple, 2–12 centimetres long, glossy green on some species, densely silvery-hairy in some others. Most pears are deciduous, but one or two species in southeast Asia are evergreen, most are cold-hardy, withstanding temperatures between −25 °C and −40 °C in winter, except for the evergreen species, which only tolerate temperatures down to about −15 °C. The flowers are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, 2–4 centimetres diameter, the fruit is composed of the receptacle or upper end of the flower-stalk greatly dilated. Enclosed within its cellular flesh is the fruit, five cartilaginous carpels. From the upper rim of the receptacle are given off the five sepals, the five petals, pears and apples cannot always be distinguished by the form of the fruit, some pears look very much like some apples, e. g. the nashi pear. One major difference is that the flesh of pear fruit contains stone cells, Pear cultivation in cool temperate climates extends to the remotest antiquity, and there is evidence of its use as a food since prehistoric times. Many traces of it have been found in pile dwellings around Lake Zurich. The pear was also cultivated by the Romans, who ate the raw or cooked. Plinys Natural History recommended stewing them with honey and noted three dozen varieties, the Roman cookbook De re coquinaria has a recipe for a spiced, stewed-pear patina, or soufflé. A certain race of pears, with white down on the undersurface of their leaves, is supposed to have originated from P. nivalis, and their fruit is chiefly used in France in the manufacture of perry. Other small-fruited pears, distinguished by their early ripening and apple-like fruit, may be referred to as P. cordata, pears have been cultivated in China for approximately 3000 years. Court accounts of Henry III of England record pears shipped from La Rochelle-Normande, Asian species with medium to large edible fruit include P. pyrifolia, P. ussuriensis, P. × bretschneideri, P. × sinkiangensis, and P. pashia. Other small-fruited species are used as rootstocks for the cultivated forms

26.
Danish dialects
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Danish dialects are the regional and local varieties of the Danish language. Traditional dialects are now extinct in Denmark, with only the oldest generations still speaking them. Danish traditional dialects are divided into three dialect areas, Jutlandic dialect, Insular Danish and Bornholmian. Bornholmian is the only Eastern Danish dialect spoken in Denmark, since the other Eastern Danish dialects were spoken in areas ceded to Sweden, Jutlandic is further divided into Southern Jutlandic and Northern Jutlandic, with Northern Jutlandic subdivided into North Jutlandic and West Jutlandic. Insular Danish is divided into Zealand, Funen, Møn and Lolland-Falster dialect areas - each with addition internal variation, the realization of stød has traditionally been one of the most important isoglosses for drawing up geographic dialect areas. There are four main variants of stød, in Southeastern Jutlandic, Southernmost Funen, Southern Langeland and Ærø, there is no stød. In most of Jutland and on Zealand there is stød, and in Zealandic traditional dialects and regional language there are often more stød occurrences than in the standard language. In Zealand the stød line divides Southern Zealand, an area used to be directly under the Danish crown. In the dialects that have pitch accent, such as the Southern Jutlandic of Als, for example, præst priest, but præsten the priest. In Western Jutland, a second stød, more like a glottal stop, is employed in addition to the standard Danish stød. It occurs in different environments, particularly after stressed vowels before consonant clusters that arise through the elision of final unstressed vowels. For example, the word to pull which is /trække/ in Standard Danish in Western Jutlandic is, whereas the present tense form /trækker/ in Standard Danish is

The Hanseatic League (also known as the Hanse or Hansa; Middle Low German: Hanse, Deutsche Hanse, Hansa, Hansa …

Image: Ausbreitung der Hanse um das Jahr 1400 Droysens 28

The Hanseatic League was a powerful economic and defensive alliance that left a great cultural and architectural heritage. It is especially renowned for its Brick Gothic monuments, such as St. Nikolai and the city hall of Stralsund shown here. Together with Wismar, the old town is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Å (lower case: å) — sometimes referred to as a Swedish a or volle — represents various (although often very similar) …

Swedish keyboard showing Å, Ä, and Ö

The fact that Å is a common letter in Swedish while having no native use in Finnish has led to it being used as a concise symbol for the Swedish language in Finland, as in this campaign to rid Finnish schools of Mandatory Swedish. The phrase reads "Away with enforced Swedish".